The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable by Amitav Ghosh

A nice book on environmental damage that we facing today and its consequences. The theme throughout the book is about how the present day novelists do not indulge fantasy and specifically fantasy with regards to natural disasters. (Note that he says that fantasy and science fictions are classified as such and not as novels per se) He says this is one of the reasons why people are not ready to acknowledge the precipice of natural disasters which are to occur because of the global warming.

His push seems to be to the authors to weave the global warming, the disasters expected due it and the solutions, if any, for it in their novels so that the world starts seeing and accepting the disaster they are headed towards. He admits “mea culpa”.

The reading of his encounter with the lone tornado to hit New Delhi and his forays into the Andaman and Nicobar immediately after the Tsunami of 2004 is worth reading. They are extremely evocative of the events.

A good read in these days when we are still refusing accept the disasters are waiting to happen. He says that if we do not change our ways then the future will call this “Age of Derangement” when the humans lost their sense and lived in a world of their own fantasy.